Starcraft: A New Beginning
by Secondsleft
Summary: STARCRAFT A NEW BEGINNING! Chapter 4 AND! 5 online! A war is raging on Planet Earth and No one can stop it, only one man can prevent it from hapening again to another race.
1. Awakening

_**Starcraft: A New Beginning**_

By: Joe Reichel AKA SecondsLeft

**Chapter 1:Awakening**

Where am I? Darkness is all around me. The cold feeling of night haunting my every step. Rain flows down from the clouds in endless streams. I am running. Running from something that chases me. My breath is heavy and my muscles are tense. I fall to the pavement scraping my knees and elbows knocking the wind out of me. I glance around and spot a figure running towards me. My instincts tell me to run, but my body won't budge. The figure enters the moonlight and is visible to the world. The thing, if that's what one might call it, stands about 7 feet high with a long grotesque head that seems to melt into its body. The creature's hands are long pointed spikes that can cut through me in seconds. I finally get strength back to my body, jump up, and run as fast as my feet can take me. I hear the creature's long thick tail hit a puddle as it chases me. Just as I get a good lead, my footing gives out and I fall yet again to the hard pavement. This time my head hits hard, and I am knocked unconscious.

I wake up. "Where am I," I ask myself. I look around a dark room, sweat drips off my face. I finally realize where I am. I am in my bedroom in my house in Boston, Massachusetts. I conclude it was a bad dream and everything is fine. Nothing is chasing me. I glance over at my alarm clock. The digits read 5:48, too early to get up and too late to go back to bed. I decide to get up and have a drink of water.

On the way to the kitchen, I look out of my sliding glass door and notice that rain is coming down hard and winds are blowing my delicate shrubbery around like helpless birds in a tornado. I remind myself to go out when it's lighter and look at the damage. I stumble into the kitchen and walk over to the sink and grab a cup off the sink and fill it up with water from the faucet. I gulp down the water and glance out the window overlooking my front yard. I look around and notice somebody's dog sitting outside on my lawn looking straight at me, oblivious to the weather. I look at the dog's features trying to tell which neighbor is dumb enough to let their dog out in a storm like this. I glance at the dog and notice that its features are odd. The animal has no fur and seems to have large front legs. Then the dog starts to stand up and walk across the street. Then I know that this is no ordinary animal, this thing looks like a large dog with huge claws in the front acting as feet. The thing's back also has a carapace like body. I drop my glass and stumble backwards. The thing looks just like one of the animals from my nightmare. As I regain my balance, I look out the window again and the creature is gone.

I forget about the whole thing figuring that I was just seeing things. I get dressed and the storm outside subsides. I walk out to my garage to go to work pondering why I ever chose the job. I don't have the coolest job. I watch the security TVs at Wal-Mart and sometimes some action happens and I get to act as real security and stop a shoplifter. I always wanted to go into the army, but my parents were against it. So many people are have died in the harsh wars being fought in Asia. Here in the United States, everything is peaceful. Crime is at an all-time low, and prisons are no longer overcrowded.

My car starts only after the fifth time trying and smoke pours out the back as I pull up the garage door using the handle in the back. I jump into my car and back out off to work. My attempt to go to work is cut short as my car smashes into an object blocking my driveway. I get out of my car and look to see what I hit. I walk around back and look at the backside of the car and I finally notice what I hit. It was the dog thing that I saw earlier this morning. I stumble backwards in disbelief and trip over my sprinkler hose. I fall down on the concrete and for the first time I notice the wreckage around me. All my neighbor's houses are totaled and my own house is missing half a roof. I didn't notice any of this because of the storm. As I look around in an open-mouth glance my cell phone rings. I take it out of my pocket and answer it.

"Hello," I say.

"Hey this is John from boot camp, do you remember me?" the voice asks. I remember his name remotely. He was one of my bunkmates when I went to boot camp. I never finished because my parents pulled me out and said I had a heart problem. My heart was perfectly fine but the army doesn't want any risks, so three days before graduation I was pulled out.

"I remember you, have you seen what is going on?"

"Yeah, I am over at the base, and we have been hit hard."

"What are these things and what have they done?"

"They appeared with the storm and wiped out half our defenses before we even knew it."

"So they are deadly?"

"Very, and they know our weaknesses."

"I am coming over to the base, I don't want to stay around here much longer."

"Be careful, I'll meet you at the front gate." As I click the phone off I hear growls coming from the house across the street. I run over and get into my car and hit the gas. As I drive away I see the dog things behind me trying to follow me. My car outruns them but I know the worst is yet to come. I drive down the highway looking at the wreckage. Cars piled up all over the place, half eaten bodies litter the street and buildings have gaping holes on them. I drive to the front gate of the Military base. The sign that used to read Jacobs Installation now lies in ruins collapsed onto the guardhouse. I drive through the broken gate and see a marine in full battle armor standing waiting for me. I drive up to him and roll my window down.

"Hiya sir, could you show me to the nearest gas station?" I joke.

"You haven't changed, your still the same jackass when I last saw you," John replies.

"Get in the car and you can show me the way to the stronghold." As John tries to stick his hulking battle suit into the car I look around at the base. Bodies both human and alien things are littered everywhere. I make note that there are many more human bodies then alien things bodies. Most of the soldiers weren't even ready for the onslaught that occurred. Half of them didn't even have battle armor on. Battle armor is a standard issue titanium alloy suit that will protect a human from most small arms and can withstand all the elements of the earth. I guess that the creatures can easily punch through the suit like a butter knife slicing softened butter. As John finally gets situated, I gun the engine and speed off using his directions to get to HQ.

As we near the HQ, I notice that the buildings are becoming less and less damaged the closer we move to the middle of the base and towards HQ. Also, I see many Marines working in battle armor moving rubble, piling the dead, making barricades, and constructing defenses.

"So this is the first line of defense?" I ask John.

"Yea, we decided that if they try to push us again we will hit them here first and have stages of defenses to weaken them before they reach the last line of defense," he responds.

"Good plan except for one thing."

"And what's that?"

"If they hit you from behind the front line, then your men will be cut off."

"And how would they do that?" All of a sudden a massive mound of dirt arises in front of the vehicle I am in. The mound of dirt is pushed several feet into the air and at the top of it came many of the creatures I have seen laying dead around the compound emerge.

"My God, run go get help," John yells. I kick the door open and jump out of the car while John hops out and un-slings his battle rifle. As I run the other direction I hear from behind me the sound of the gauss rifle firing at the enemy.

Just like boot, Just like boot. I try to calm myself but it is no use. I run up to a marine. He looks at me and then hears the rifle and looks over my shoulder. He understands, I can see by his reactions so I step out of his way.

"Lets go kill us some Zerg," the marine said. As he runs over to battle with some others, I think about what he said. Did he call them Zerg? I wonder why he would call them that. I push those questions aside and focus on what is happening at the moment.

I look around for something to fight the so-called "Zerg". Over by a pile of metal scrap I see a Desert Eagle .50 Caliber. Strong weapon if you get close to the enemy. I take it and plan to use it if I can't find anything else. I see a C-10 Canister rifle lying on a box of supplies, these rifles are used by telepathic Ghost units (a stealth unit used for infiltration). I take it and find that it is loaded with about 20 rounds. I know little about the inner workings of a C-10 but know that it can be used for long-range operations.

I walk up to the battle area and climb up on a pile of wooden crates. I take a crouch position and take a look at the battle siege that is happening right in front of me. It looks as though about 50 marines have gathered around in a circle defense and have isolated the creatures. They kill them as the enemy pops up to attack. I also see many dead marines around the base of the hole. I don't know if any of those are John but I hope they aren't.

As I am watching the battle, I notice something that makes my stomach turn upside down. Behind the marine formation another mound starts to crop up. I scream at the marines but they can't hear my warning. Three of the Zerg creatures pop out and charge the unsuspecting marines. I shoulder my rifle and take aim at the first of the three. My rifle recoils as the first round strikes a creature in the middle of its torso. As the recoil dampening system kicks in, I take aim at the second one. Many of the marines already notice the attack but three marines have already died from the first wave of Zerg. I quickly dispense of a second one and then a third. The marines work with me and kill off the remaining creatures.

It seemed like as soon as the battle had started it was over. Any Zerg survivors fled back into the sinkhole they created and disappeared. For extra measures,

the marines that weren't wounded or dead from the skirmish used fragmentation grenades from their Vultures to turn the sinkhole into a fire pit to kill off any stragglers. A vulture is a hover bike that has a gun in the front for projecting grenades. Many marines choose this as sort of a cavalry method to use on the enemy. A vulture is good against light armored units and one of those grenades can kill three marines. I come down from my perch and walk around looking at the wreckage. A couple marines come up to me and give me a pat on the back while others just stare in disgust. Many of the enlisted marines don't tend to like any civilians. Their motto is that if your not one of them then you can't fight beside them. I spot John in the crowd of men and walk over to him. He immediately congratulates me on my work.

"Good job getting help and then helping save marine's lives with your sniper work. I never thought you would still have the urge to fight, but I guess I was wrong," John says.

"Well your know what they say, never judge a book by its cover," I remind him.

"Hey lets go get a beer at HQ, we will let the privates clean up. I will put Beers in charge."

"Beers is here?"

"Yeah, he's a Sergeant still and a badass one at that."

"Where is he?"

"Over there." I head over to a tent near the first line of defense. I tell John to meet me in the mess hall in ten minutes. I wonder if Beers still remembers me. He was my closest friend in Boot and he was a cool guy. He's also 6'6" and 260 pounds of pure, rock hard muscle. I walk into the tent and in the middle a table with 3 men standing around it. I can immediately tell which one is Beers. He stood three inches higher than every other guy. I walk over and he turns around and when he sees me he hugs me like a bear would hug a pillow.

"How are you Sonny?" he bellows.

"I'm doing good Beers, how's everything going around here," I ask him. Beers has his battle suit on so I can't see his face but I can tell every emotion pouring out of him.

"I lost my kid and my wife," he responds sadly. The smile drops off my face and I stare at the floor.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know," I tell him sincerely.

"It's okay, I'll kill those little alien bastards and get my revenge."

"What is the plan around here? Why do the men call them Zerg and how do we kill them?"

"Well, we call them Zerg because a guy from Charlie Company said that when he got close to one it sounded as though it was saying Zerg. And we have names for the individual species also. The dog looking kind are called Zerglings. The big upright snake looking things are called Hydralisk for a hydra, get it?"

"Yea, how many species are there?"

"Well we have encountered the two I mentioned plus a flying thing we call a Mutalisk, and a big beast thing we call an Ultralisk. We aren't sure about other species but we know there are more. The only way to kill these things is with bullets and bombs. We tried to hit them with Aerial toxins but they were unaffected," he explains.

"How big is this base we got here?" I ask.

"Well we got six Battalions."

"Six Wow, that's quite a bit! Is that Infantry only or the whole division?"

"Only the Infantry."

"What Else do we got to work with?"

"1 Company of Vultures, 1 Battalion of Siege Tanks (tanks that are also a means of artillery), and 27 Wraith Fighter/Bomber aircraft."

"Not bad, any means of contacting the outside world?"

"Not yet, we have no satellites to guide us and the longest comm. we got is short wave infantry radios for communication among platoons."

"So what is your plan on this operation?"

"Well the Colonel is clueless and needs someone who could come up with some fresh ideas, that's why we called you."

"Why me, I don't know anything about these things?"

"In Boot, you were always behind our victories in every challenged we came upon."

"I don't think I am up for it."

"Trust me you will be fine. Just think about it, it will come in time."

"Okay I will. I got to get going I'll talk to you when I come up with something." As I walk out of the tent, I think back to the days in Boot when I would always solve the platoon's problems. I walk to the mess hall thinking of ways to fight the Zerg using my training in Boot. When I meet up with John, he is sitting with some marines and gives me a wave when I walk into the mess hall. When I sit down, John continues his discussion with the marines. I put my head down on the table and rest my eyes trying to think about strategies to use. When John finishes his conversation and the marines leave, he nudges me and I pick my head up.

"You okay?" he asks.

"Yea, just thinking about what Beers said and how I can contribute to the cause," I reply.

"I'll show you to your room and you can take a nap. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great." John shows me to a room. When we get there, I notice the room is a nice bedroom meant to be used for a captain or some higher-ranking officer. He leaves me and I lay down thinking about this day and how this has all happened, and wonder how I got caught up in the midst of things so quickly. As I lay down, I slowly drift off into a dream world and fall asleep.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Encounters

**Chapter 2:Encounters**

Sirens, the sound of a siren blaring can never be a good sign. The blaring won't stop, the sound actually begins to get louder and soon the screaming of the sirens becomes so annoying that it is unbearable to listen to. I finally come about and find myself lying on the floor of the room that John gave me earlier. I sit up and the blaring noises radiate through my head. A red light is blinking on the desk and I stand up and walk over to turn the lights on.

A strange looking version of the standard battle suit stands next to the desk. I walk over to it curious why it is here and why it looks the way it does. It looks to be some sort of a prototype and is much smaller than a normal suit. I press the log-in button on the front of the suit, which takes my thumbprint and for some reason recognizes me and asks me what I would like to do with the 73C41 infiltration armor model. I conclude that this suit is no ordinary armor, but a newly improved stealth model. I press the open suit button on the interface monitor that displays information to personnel when the suit in unoccupied. The suit's actuators depressurize and the front of the suit opens revealing the soft gel like interior that stabilizes the person using the suit and regulates bodily functions such as temperature and healing wounded areas.

The suit looks as though it fits me but no one can ever be sure. One inch off and the suit would crush someone. I try it anyway thinking that John put it in here for me. I undress and lay into the suit. I insert my hands into the arm sockets and lock my feet into place. I use my voice to initiate the lockdown procedure on the suit and the suit slowly closes over me. The actuators hiss as the suit pressurizes and the assisted movement activates. The standard suit weighs about half a ton so a normal human couldn't move the suit's limbs so the suit uses a mechanism to help the human move about without straining any muscles. The suit finishes the final initiations and a green light blinks on my heads-up display (HUD) indicating that the suit is ready to go. My HUD shows many important items, such as body temperature, ammo count, the suit's energy capacity and if I have a breach in my armor. There are a couple unfamiliar icons displayed in my HUD and I figure I will ask about them when I get a chance. I slowly pick my arm up and the assisted movement makes the movement feel like I am in a zero G atmosphere.

I walk out of my room and notice all the corridor's lights are out and the red emergency lights are on. I walk quickly to the end of the hallway to the door that leads me outside of the barracks. I walk out of the barracks and find myself in the middle of a giant battlefield. Most of the battle has already happened but I can still see some skirmishes occurring. Many of the defenses have fallen and the ones left are either being attacked or smoldering and will be collapsed eventually. I jog over to what looks to be like a makeshift outpost that is under a light assault. I have no weapon on my suit so I can be of no help in this fight but I can see if anyone has a spare weapon lying around, considering a dead person can't really use a gun.

I get to protection in the outpost and marines are franticly running around trying to hold the position. I walk to the center of operations and see a high-ranking officer screaming at privates to hold their positions. I walk over to what looks to be a makeshift armory and grab a standard issue C-14 Impaler gauss rifle, also I grab and extra ammo belt and 5 nova grenades. I plug in the weapon's I.D. card into my suit and an icon comes up on my HUD displaying my ammo count and what weapon I am using. I walk over to a map of the base and see many markings on the map. I see that we are smack dab in the middle of the human held ground and that we have lost almost everything else. A man taps me on my shoulder and I turn around. I see insignia identifying the personnel as a Colonel and I immediately salute.

"Hello son, do you mind if you step aside and let me peer on that there map?" he asked.

"Sorry Colonel, I was just wondering where I can be posted to offer some aid."

"I believe that bunker K18C has an opening for you."

"Thanks Sir."

I walk outside to see that the skirmish has died down and the Zerg are backing off and holding their ground outside our gun's range. I walk over to the bunker labeled K18C and jump into it to find three battle worn marines who give me one glance and look back to the battleground. I go to the empty post and peer out at the battle. The skies are jet black and thunder is heard in the distance.

"Here they come," one marine states as he loads his rifle. I shoulder my rifle and prepare to fire on the oncoming swarm.

"Only a group of Hydralisks," one of the marines laughs. I look out the gun port and see a group of the slithering snake-like creatures and guess they call those Hydralisks because they resemble a hydra from mythology. I fire a volley of deadly explosive tipped rounds into the closest Hydralisk and the bullets rip into the creature's carapace and shred the creature apart from the inside out. The other marines are busy holding their triggers down and wasting ammo on already soon to be dead Hydralisks. The explosive rounds fired from an Impaler hit a target and punch through the target's armor and then explode after they have lost their momentum and cripple a target from the inside. As the last of the Hydralisks fall over and wiggle to death. The marines from my bunker scream victory shouts and then sit back and open up a 6 pack of beer. I feel sickened by the sight that the marines are in such a carefree state.

I jump out of the bunker and begin to run over to the makeshift HQ. As I get about halfway to the HQ a wounded Zergling jumps up and tackles me. My enhanced reflexes throw the animal off and I quickly jump up and put a burst from my rifle into the creature. It shakes for a second and then goes silent. I exhale deeply and look up to see a giant hulking mass drifting in the sky. I wonder what it could possibly be. Whatever it is, it is not man made and I don't believe that the disgusting creatures that lay down at our feet are the creators. Out of nowhere the object becomes dotted with little red lights and the lights explode and lash out against the remaining Zerg. Some men get out of their bunkers and look dumbfounded. Others get out and cheer. Some don't even get out. I see the Colonel walk out the outpost and look up at the giant floating object. My attention turns back to the ship and a green light this time lowers itself to the ground not 20 feet in front of me. The light sits for a while and I notice the strangest things occur. Aliens are floating down the in light. I guess my reading science fiction novels when I was a kid finally will pay off. The aliens are using a Grav lift. A Grav lift is a device that uses gravity to slowly repel an object down to the ground.

The Aliens finally reach the bottom and there are about 200 of them. I look around at are scattered forces and count about 400 men. My mind suddenly screams out at me like a voice is in it and trying to talk to me. The feeling is awkward but I push it aside for now. The new aliens appear to have no mouth and wear an assortment of armor. Most of the aliens are about six to seven feet tall and carry blue looking sword things. Behind the blade warriors is a funny looking mechanical caterpillar that is about 20 feet long and 8 feet high. The leader of the pack slowly approaches and does not talk but telepathically states:

"We come in peace. We mean you natives no harm." I was surprised when I hear him speak English but he might have already read our minds and found out our language and history. I am just a superstitious person though. The leader then says:

"We would like to speak with your leader to discuss an agreement." I notice the Colonel to begin to step forward but stops himself for some reason. I walk over to the Colonel and tell him that I will go to make sure that they do not want to take the leader hostage to make the troops uncoordinated. I walk up to the leader and we together walk to the side and discuss urgent matters.

"Your people have one option and only one option," he began speaking though not through his mouth but through his mind. "Your men must disarm and come with us peacefully so no one will get hurt. We are the mighty Protoss, the firstborn, we are noble and will not hurt anyone who surrenders peacefully."

"Why have you come to our planet and why are the other aliens also here," I say speaking out loud.

"Your planet was attacked by the other aliens and our forces arrived in time to stop them from totally decimating the entire planet. We have been fighting them for many years and they like to jump from one planet to another and infest it like rodents."

"I understand your predicament but I must decline your option, we shall not disarm and the best thing for you to do is to leave this area. We were fine before you came here."

"You shall disarm or perish, those are your options." As he finished his thought, two of the blade warriors walk up to make sure there won't be any problems, but they are too late as I have already made up my mind. I quickly reach for the supplied sidearm that came with the suit and point it right at the leader. I pull the trigger and the gun bucks in my hand. The leader falls without a fight. The two "noble" bodyguards rush at me. I manage to get one more round off before they reach me and the right bodyguard crumples to the ground. The other guard lances out at me and sticks his blade into my armor. The metal boils away and my stomach is punctured but I do not flinch, I bring the gun down on the alien's wrist blade and crush the mechanics. The blade flickers and disappears. With that the alien rears back and comes out me with his other blade. The problem was that I had already pointed the gun dead on his face and pulled the trigger as he did so. His limp body slaps on to the floor dead.

During my quick skirmish I had with the two bodyguards, the blade warriors have charged the marines and the marines answered back with bullets, many bullets. It was obvious that the warriors did not stand a chance to the awesome power of human technology. As I finish my thoughts, a lighted object hovers across the battlefield and erupts on the marine's line. Instantly 40 marines fall, the impact on the battle was so great that some men stop firing and stare at the carnage. I know something has to be done to put the caterpillar tank out of business.

I sprint to the caterpillar and along the way have to take out 2 more blade warriors. I reach the hulking beast just as it fires yet another shell out of its mouth. Ten blade warriors surround the unit as to protect it. I reload my pistol and begin running towards the tank. My pistol opens up and takes out the two closest warriors. When I am within 15 feet, I jump using my enhanced muscles and collide with the tank. I grip the side of the behemoth and slowly crawl up to the top. I reach the top and get to my feet. Below me the blade warriors begin to ascend.

I have to crouch because my torso has lost so much blood and I almost pass out from nausea. I regain consciousness and crouch lower and look at the hatch of the beast. I reach down and pull on the handle. My mechanized muscles strain and the hatch flies off its hinges. I unbuckle the strap carrying the nova grenades and trigger them all as they drop into the dark opening. 3….2….1…0. The charges explode just as the first blade warrior reaches the top. Of course I have already jumped and cleared the beast as the novas explode. The blast cripples two thirds of the so-called "Mighty Protoss".

Even though this battle is close to being over, we have sustained heavy losses and considering that the Protoss might have millions of these warriors in reserve does not give us any rest at the moment. I crouch down to relieve the pain and I look up in time to see a lone zealot with red colored armor charge at me. I stand up and jump back as his blade cuts the air where I was standing not a second ago. I regain my balance and reach for my pistol and realize that it is gone! The warrior charges me and I am stuck and must resort to fighting hand to hand.

He attempts to come down with a vertical slashing motion and I juke to the left and palm him in the face. The warrior stumbles to the side but regains his balance quickly. He jumps at my position using his back foot as an extra boost. I try to duck him but take a blade to the arm. The cut almost severs my arm from my body but is still hanging on. I let out a shrill screech of pain that could be heard through the cacophony of the battle. The warrior turns around and returns to finish me off. I turn to face him knowing I am defeated when a shimmer whisks by me. The shimmer lashes out with a shine that can only resemble a blade of some sort. The warrior's head flicks off from the rest of the body and the warrior falls to the ground with a thud. I notice the shimmer become solid and then focus itself. The alien that is standing in front of me is a Protoss. Not the normal kind with lavish armor, but instead the silent assassin wearing dark purple robes and carrying an extra wide and long sword with a narrow shaft to hold it. The robes crack with the wind and the alien begins to walk toward me sheathing its sword. My eyes grow heavy and I collapse to the floor from loss of blood. With my eyes closed, all I can hear are the shouts of marines, the rattle of guns, and the sound of death. The sounds become quieter and quieter and soon are no more. My mind becomes dark and I black out.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. First Strike

**Chapter 3: First Strike**

The sounds of war have long since passed and the silent and stillness of the atmosphere around me creates an eerie effect that would keep any grown man on his toes. Of course I am not on my toes, let alone on my feet. I lay quietly as robotic arms repair my mauled body in the med bay. I became fully conscious around five minutes ago and have to be still until the robots have finished mending my injuries so that they won't slip and cause my body to be disfigured. Since some parts of my body have been damaged beyond the power of self-healing and stitches I get brand new flash cloned organs and new metal bone fragments that will hold my skeleton together. I try to glance around the room I am in without disturbing the machines. I notice that my body has been taken to a med bay, which is not all that fancy, more of a makeshift medical bay than a pre-established one with rejuvenation tanks and everything. This one has no tanks and looks to be 2 operating tables with the basic robot mechanics.

A light on a machine next to be blinks green and the robots halt there work and rear back to let the patient out. I slowly get to my feet and stretch out my newly repaired body. I look down at my scars; one went from the left of my belly button to the edge of my nipple. The other ran from to top of my arm to the bottom of it. I walk over to the closet and pick up my fatigues that have my name embroidered on them and put them on. I walk out of the med bay and right into the makeshift barracks. Men lay around, some hurt, others relaxing reading magazines and books, some talking to each other, some practicing take down moves. I walk over to the nearest marine who is laying down reading a book. As I walk over he immediately sits up and salutes me. Normally, a civilian wouldn't be saluted, but I guess I am not a civilian any more.

"Why hello sir, my name is PFC Mendez. The Sergeant told me to look after you and to show you around our new complex," the soldier says. I have many questions for the private and was unsure where to start when he opens his mouth again.

"Sir, the place you're in right now is the General Infantry Barracks, You just exited the Medical Bay and I can show you around the rest of the campus shortly if you wish."

"Why do you keep calling me sir," I asked.

"All that the Sergeant told me was that you were some specialist and that once you were moving that I escort you to the comm. room for briefing on our next moves."

"Well where is the comm. room?"

"I'll show you." The private starts to walk and turns to see if I was going to follow so I start off after him.

"So where are we anyway?"

"This is the new military complex that we traveled to after the aliens attacked. The complex's old name was Omega Outpost, but we all call it New Refuge." The private turns right onto another corridor and then turns and opens a door. The door leads to a small conference room with a large table in the middle and chairs all placed around. In the front of the room is a large projection screen with a map of some sort on it. The room is full of men; most of them high-ranking officials and the others are all Sergeants.

"Glad you could join us," a man in the corner states. Immediately I knew who is speaking. The man could be no one but Beers. I walk over and give him a big hug knowing that other people in the room are now staring at us.

"I thought you didn't make it," I say with slight tears in my eyes. The moment was awkward but I soon get over it. The conference starts and I take a seat in the back as the lights are turned off. A man stands up and walks to the front of the room. I could tell that he is a general from the stance he takes and he then points to the map highlighting certain regions which are the topic of the conference.

"Fellow what we have is very simple and very complicated all in one little neat package," the General says without hesitation. The room is quiet and the men in it are attentive and listen to what the General has to say very closely.

"The simple part is that the Zerg have nestled in for the long run and have created a base outside of our location. Their numbers are estimated to be quite large and they have many resources at their disposal. The complicated part is figuring out how to stop them. If we sit here and wait, their numbers will grow larger and will soon be unstoppable. If we attack, I am unsure that we will be victoriouis or even if we can have a significant effect on their numbers. So here I stand asking you, the great minds of our day, to devise a plan that will stop this infestation from occurring."

His words hit the audience like an atom bomb would hit a city. Many men are befuddled how the Zerg managed to get so strong so quickly; others simply don't know what to do. I take this moment of confusion to think of possibilities that we could use to our advantage. I raise my hand like I was in grammar school and wait to be called on by the General.

"Umm, you in the corner, you have a question or something?" the General asks as if I should just have kept my hand down and stayed quiet.

"I believe that our only option is to attack the enemy as fast as we can because if we delay the assault then their forces will grow and sooner or later we won't be able to stop them. We might be able to decimate them if we strike now, but if we wait we will never be able to stop them." My words resonate crisp and clear. Not a person in the room can argue that I am wrong in what I have stated. The General ponders a moment and then says.

"Who are you soldier?" Just as he finishes his question, Beers stands up to talk.

"He is with me sir. I brought him in because I thought he would be of some use in the hard times ahead."

"Well I like his idea so we are going to run with it." The General's words are clear; he now has a strategy and can move in the right direction. I can tell that the chain of command is on shaky ground now that civilization has collapsed. I leave the room while the leaders get into the details of the attack. Beers follows me out and we sit in the hall.

"Good job in there, now we can put together a force to stop the infestation that has occurred."

"It doesn't matter what we do today, doesn't even matter at all. All that I know is that one attack won't win the war here. It is the right decision, but I can see the many faces on the men after they win when another force of aliens twice as strong counters our efforts with a full-fledged annihilation of our base." Beers looks down as his shoes as I speak. I know how he feels, his eyes wander and I feel deep sorrow flow from his body.

"When the time comes, I will be there for you. I will not let you fall and I will not let the men in my squad fall either." His words feel like bombshells hitting me. He knows we are all going to die and hates to admit it to himself or anyone else.I walk away from him and return to the barracks. From there I ask the same marine I talked to earlier where my suit is being kept. He points me off into the direction through the med bay to the armory. As I walk down the hallway that leads to the armory, I think about what Beers had said and wonder if the time he fears most will actually come. At a time when my life is in his hands, will he falter and kill us all or will he be the savior that was needed, I ask myself Beers is known for his emotions overwhelming him; I just hope that these emotions make him do the correct thing. I reach the armory and I walk up to the counter where a person sits and reads an old magazine of some sort.

"I am looking for my suit, when my body was being repaired my suit was taken off."

"Do you remember your suit identification number?"

" I think it's a 73C41 model." The person types in the model number into the database and looks at the screen reading something.

"Today is your lucky day. There is only one suit with the model number 73C41 and it is in bay 4, which is right down the hall. Here is your key to access the room with your suit in it. Would you like any help putting it on?"

"No I am fine, thanks anyway." I walk down the hallway to the door with the corresponding number that is imprinted on the card key given to me. Room 432, 432 come on where is it. I find the room after 20 minutes of searching. It wasn't in bay 4 it was in bay 14. I reach the door and slide the card key through the pad. The door lock clicks and a green light blinks letting me know I can open the door now. I walk into the room, if that's what one would call it. It was more like a broom closet. My suit stood on a rack facing the door; the suit had been repaired and looked as good as new. I activate the start procedures and jump into the suit and take off. On my way out of the armory I take a turn into the weapons department. I look over the weapon stash and grab a C-14 Impaler rifle with extra ammo clips. I sling the rifle of my back and grab a standard issue 9mm pistol and put it in its holster. I look at the other weapons and decide that a belt of grenades will be helpful and attach them to my waist. Along with those weapons I grab an infantry personnel Anti-Aircraft launcher with 2 missiles. I un-sling my rifle and attach the launcher and rockets to my back. I load the rifle and move out.

The General announces over the comm. that we are moving out in two hours and that all men have specific orders from the commanders. Everyone is bustling about in pandemonium as they prepare for the assault many have been waiting for. I walk back to the barracks already done with my preparations and help with the heavy lifting. Beers walks in and announces that we are going to be stationed in the front and we are being called upon to line up and prepare to strike.

I follow the rest of the squad outside and we are told where to go by a traffic director. The men form a line and I stand outside it not knowing what part I play in all of this. Beers walks out and looks at me strangely.

"Get in line so we can get ready for orders." He says with no happiness in his voice. I walk to the end of the row and stand at the ready.

"Men, today is a day that we will all remember. Today we will strike the Zerg with such force that they will tremble the next time they hear our name. Our orders is to secure and protect a strip of land east of the Zerg base and wait for the artillery to arrive and setup. We must secure that strip so that we can get artillery on the board, which will even the odds. The 118th marine squad and their partners in crime, the 123rd marine squad, will accompany us into battle. Our 3 squads will form the Beta Division, which will be the deciding factor in this war." His words are thrown out and the men gobble them up. They are ready for revenge, they all want blood. The General issues the order and our men begin their march towards the rendezvous spot where we will meet up with the 118th and the 123rd. The spot is approximately eight clicks north of our current position.

As we begin the trek some men are saying prayers, some chat with each other on their comm. channels, others just are silent as they walk towards doomsday. We reach the rendezvous location in a mere 55 minutes, the 118th and 123rd are already waiting for us as we arrive. The Sergeants talk over the game plan as the rest load weapons and check ammo supplies of weapons. One of the Sergeants walks over to a man who is praying and slaps him upside the head telling him he is jinxing us.

"Alright you lazy sacks of shit, get ready 'cause we 'bout to hit hell with our hardest," the leading Sergeant screams. The men scream in reply and I am wondering if the Zerg heard us yet. The strip of land we must take is only a quarter mile away. I can see movement around some of the buildings that the Zerg have erected. A purple mat extends out in all directions and when we step on it, the mat almost seems alive because flexes under our pressure. We begin to walk towards one of the buildings with our weapons drawn. Suddenly one of the buildings comes alive and shoots a tentacle down into the ground. The tentacle the races underground and shoots up at the nearest marine. The marine instantly is decapitated from the blow and falls over in a pile of blood. The other marines answer back with volley of spikes from their rifles. The bullets hit the attacking building and actually puncture it. The building begins to bleed and soon explodes from the never-ending wave of rounds. The building managed to take three other brave marines with it before it collapsed.

The marines, who are now at caution as hey approach other building. The building doesn't attack as we get near and some marines fire their rifles anyways. The building begins to bleed, but before we can destroy it the Zerg make their move. Five of the serpent Hydralisks move out from cover of a building. Their midsection opens up and out of it launches an array of deadly projectiles. Instantly three marines crumble to the ground. I answer with my rifle, the recoil shaking in my hands. I manage to hit a Hydralisk and it fall over dead. Other marines answer my call with more fire onto the Hydras. The remaining four explode into a bloody pile from a marine's grenade launcher.

Some marines cheer but are cut short when a pack of twenty Zerglings rise up from the ground, obviously burrowed there and charge us. They waited until we got close enough to un-burrow. I drop my rifle and reach for a grenade on my belt. I prime the grenade and toss it at the closest Zergling. The grenade sticks and the Zergling explodes along with five others. The remaining Zerglings continue their assault and devour any marine that gets close enough. To my left five marines line up with their rifles aimed and unleash all they got. Under the massive pelting of fire, the Zerglings fall back and flee the battle taking heavy casualties. We continue our march and destroy every building in our path. We receive no resistance from the Zerg and we clean the strip of land clean. We figure the Zerg are too busy elsewhere fighting our comrades to worry about our little mission.

The Sergeants meet and together they call in to HQ and announce that they area is clear and it is ready for artillery to arrive. The marines sit around as the Sergeants talk over our next moves. I count that was lost twelve marines in our little skirmish. I look over at a group of marines that are standing laughing at jokes. Strangely one of them falls over gasping as if he is injured. His friends bend over and try to talk to him. Another marine falls over also gasping. I stand up and look around for potential snipers. Then I look at the marines again, they drew the attention of the Sergeants. I see a shimmer swirling around the marines and remember what happened the last time I saw that shimmer. I drop to one knee and shoulder my rifle and send out a burst to the shimmer. The figure instantly begins solid and falls to the ground. It appears to be a blade warrior that we fought previously. I look around if there are anymore and see a large group of shimmers. I quickly set my rifle to full auto and unleash rounds at the shimmers. The marines see what I am doing and help out with some firepower. Figures become solid and fall and the entire group uncloaks and charges. Marines answer this with all they got. The remaining warriors fall and we do not lose a single soldier to the small skirmish. I wonder if this was just a scout force. The Sergeant ends my thoughts and gives us the all-clear signal.

"Listen up you dumbasses. HQ says that we are finished here and our next mission is to cause a distraction so that our friends can attack the Hive without any forces stationed there. We have been sent 3 SCV (Space Construction Vehicles) to build us some defensives placements if needed. I spoke to the other Sergeants and we believe that if we attack and draw there forces back to our defenses that we can distract them long enough for our boys on the other side to do their job." He spoke with a booming voice and everyone listened intently. Immediately the 3 SCVs get to work building bunkers and defensive positions. I am stationed to be the one of the few men who will lure the Zerg out of their base and bring them back here. They chose me because I was the fastest and had the lightest armor. I walk to the edge of our defenses and peer out at the base. I use my magnification lens on my suit and look at the base with 10x vision on. I saw thousands of Zerg waiting for something; they were just standing there. I start to walk; I was accompanied by three other men. We had donned our heavy weapons and carried only our rifles. I begin to run and the others run to keep up with me. We reach the outskirts of the Zerg base and look at the army that is assembled there. The army just stares at us, tempting us, urging us to come within their range. Most of their army was made up of Zerglings with only about a couple of hundred Hydralisks. Who was I kidding - we can't take even a hundred Hydralisk. I shoulder my rifle and open fire on their ranks. Five Zerglings fall, which isn't even a dent in their numbers. They begin to march towards us. We begin to fall back but we don't stop firing. Ten, fifteen, twenty, we keep firing our weapons killing more and more. Finally they get fed up with waiting and full on charge us. I begin to jog still firing behind me, the men with me run without looking back. I scream after them, but it is too late, they are gone. So there I am, luring an entire army of Zerg with only a rifle. My rifle soon runs out of ammo and I throw it at the enemy. It hits a Zergling and cracks its skull open. I unclip the grenade belt and prime all the grenades at once. I throw the belt over my head and the belt hits a Hydralisk. The grenades explode and kill ten Zerg, this did nothing but fuel the fire. The Zerg are almost upon me and all I have left in my arsenal is my pistol. I un-holster the pistol and begin firing it behind my back. The bullets do little but bounce off the carapaces of the infuriated Zerg. I throw the pistol on the ground and begin to sprint. I am no more than 300 meters away from the first line of defenses when the nearest bunker full of marines opens up. Bullets zip by my head and behind me bodies hit the ground. Grenades fly from every direction blowing holes in the Zerg line. I reach the defenses with seconds to spare before the Zerg hit our wall of D. I jump over the bunker wall and run to the makeshift HQ. I spot the lead Sergeant and give him the mission-accomplished signal. I run out of the HQ to the armory, as I reach the front door of the armory I hear explosions erupt on the front defenses. The Zerg have broken through! I sprint into the armory and grab a new rifle along with extra ammo. I have to time to grab anything else because I hear men cry outside from the terror the Zerg are unleashing. I get outside of the armory and run to the nearest bunker. I lie in the prone position on the top of the bunker and begin to lay down the full auto rattle of my gun and blow Zerglings and Hydralisks alike into smithereens. The Zerg filter through the cracks left in-between the bunkers and swirl around the space that was left on purpose between the first and 2nd line of bunkers. The Zerg have been corralled into a small space that the bunkers eventually cut their numbers down and wait for more to fill the gap. I run my gun dry and reload it one last time. I jump down from my position and run around to the gap in our defenses. Many marines lie dead around the gap. This area was the choke point in our defense, if this fell we all fell. I look through the gap and saw a wall of Zerg charge through. Bunkers perched up on either side of the bunker opened up and slaughtered the invaders. I help with the carnage by unloading my rifle into the nearest Hydralisk. With my gun dry I throw it to the ground and pull out my pistol. This is the weak 9mm pistol I had earlier, this gun of a beast is a double barrel 12 gauge sawed off shotgun pistol. Meant for crowd control, this weapon is designed to hit the first target and travel through to the next one. The pistol however only holds 4 rounds, 2 in each barrel. The gun is meant as a last resort when everything else is spent. I grip the pistol with both hands and let of the first round. The gun was pointed at a Hydralisk, but when you are shooting at a wall of enemies, you will always hit something. The round struck a Hydralisk in the chest and went clean through to another Hydralisk. Both creatures fell with the might of one round. Two down two hundred to go. The bunkers help a lot considering that only ten men we are the end of the gap, most with pistols or short range weapons.

I spend all the rounds in the pistol; and dropping it, I sprint over the unmanned stationary AA gun. I jump into the hatch of the turret and spin the gun around to face the oncoming attackers. The guns display screen comes to life and a targeting system comes online. I grasp the controls and unleash a deadly barrage of terror on the creatures remaining in the gap. Instantly the front row of Zerg are liquefied from the non-stop wall of shells hurtling at them. The remaining attackers then get a clue and fall back to safety outside my gun's range. I jump out of the gun and run over to an injured man lying on the ground. Before I could reach him his insides explode and two little Zerg pop out. Not the Zerglings I have faced before but a new terror. These little fellows are about two feet long and have two-foot long spikes protruding from their mouth. They run at me but before they reach me a marine in a bunker opens fire on them and pulverizes them into the ground. I wave a thank you to the marine and quickly think about what to do next.

The ground trembles and I turn around to see a behemoth of a Zerg. The creature must have run straight through the wall of bunkers and crushed any opposition that stood in its way. The creature must have been twenty feet tall and about fifteen feet long. The creature looks to be an oversized elephant with 2 huge scythes as tusks. The beast must be none other than what the marines call an Ultralisk. The Ultralisk charges toward me and I dive out of its path. The thing's speed is way faster than one would think. I turn and face my foe with nothing more than hopes and dreams. I look left and then right for anything I can use. I spot the AA gun I used earlier and wonder if that has enough firepower to put the beast down. With no time to think, I sprint to the AA gun and hop in. I activate the control and hold down both triggers as the target acquiring system becomes active. The roar of the Ultralisk is drowned out with the steady drone of the huge 50mm cannons on the AA gun. The gun blows holes into the creature and after twenty relentless rounds the Ultralisk falls.

I again get out of the gun and look around. The carnage of the Zerg has left our company almost dry of resources and men. The men huddle together as medics tend to wounds and marines carry and stack the dead. I count only thirty-three marines left from a company of close to five hundred. The Zerg backed off finally realizing that their base had fallen and went back to pick up the pieces.

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Intentions

**Chapter 4: Intentions**

The remaining men in my squad are rounded up and told by Beers himself that we must make the trek back to base and get medical help and reinforcements. Beers had to stay at the makeshift defensive outpost and command the others. We have been walking for twenty minutes and can make out HQ. I look at the men in my squad, all 3 of them. My squad took the most casualties in the skirmish and we are the only survivors of the squad. Along with the fact that we have no ammo for our rifles and we must resort to pistols and small arms. The dust rolls by sweeping under my legs. The war and the infestation is slowly killing the planet.

I hear the drone of engines and wonder where they could be coming from and if it might be of help to us. I look up in time to see a beetle looking spaceship descend on our position. I jump out of the way as the alien vessel lands right on top of us. The other marines jump up and immediately un-holster their weapons, two pistols and a shotgun. I got a pistol but am to moonstruck to pull my weapons out. A hatch on the back underside of the ship opens and a platform slowly lowers. A figure obviously Protoss descends and starts to stride toward the befuddled marines. The alien obviously female by the way she walks and her figure wears a burgundy robe that I swear I have seen before. On her back she carries a long sheathe with a big sword inside. The first marine, who is so scared he probably pissed his pants, pulls the trigger of his pistol and the round hits the ship completely. The alien who is startled by the round suddenly springs forward and hits the marine who shot at her right in the face. Her fist breaks the marines protective faceplate and his delicate face explodes under the pressure of her punch. As the marine falls to the floor shaking uncontrollably in a pool of his own blood the female faces the remaining two marines who now have their act together and know that it is time to fight. The marine with the shotgun fires and the alien sidesteps the blast and grabs the shotgun's barrel snapping it like a twig. She then pulls her sword out and slices through the marine's armor like butter and completely cuts through the entire marine's torso, leaving him to lay in two pieces still barely alive to watch his friend die. The last marine begins firing wildly at the alien. She dodges all the round and charges as the marine frantically reloads. He manages to slide the clip into the pistol and looks up to see a blade right in his face. The blade jabs the marine in the faceplate piercing it and going through cleanly. The alien pulls the sword out of the marine's face and sheathes it as the last marine falls to the ground. She turns to face me and I stand their not knowing what to do. I focus my my into one thought and mentally lance out to her.

"I mean no harm," I didn't know what else to say.

"Interesting, a human that can talk with his mind, now that's a first. Do not fret, I can understand you when you speak with that thing on your face. My name is Zandra, leader of the Dark Templar." She telepathically states. I stand their curious why she landed right on top of us.

"Why did you land here, and why did you engage us?"

"I needed a place to set her down and u just happened to be there, and I killed your friends because when someone tries to kill you the response is usually to fight back, in my case kill your friends." She speaks like she does this often and I wonder who she is.

"I have killed many of your friends why don't you just kill me?"

"first of all, you haven't killed any of my friends, you just aren't strong enough, now you could have killed those other Protoss that have landed here, but they aren't my friends, they threw me out and caused my people much pain and suffering." As she finishes her thought a loud mental beep that seems to emanate from the ship.

"Stay here human or I might think about the killing you part." After her mental message finishes she quickly strides over to the ramp and up into the depths of her ship. The constant beeping stops and I can hear the faint clicking sound of a keyboard or their version of it. As quick as she went up the ramp she came down it, and walked over to me.

"Seems that our conversation will be cut short and if you want to you can come with me."

"Why is there so much urgency, what has happened?"

"The fleet that is orbiting your planet is preparing to eradicate your planet and everything on it." I almost faint at the message and regain my balance. To just think about the magnitude of an entire planet and race becoming extinct with a flick of a switch or the push of a button just causes anger to build inside of me.

"Is there anything we can do but watch as all my friends and family become nothing?"

"I am afraid not, the fleet is not under my command, it would be best if you come with me if your wish to preserve your life." She walks up into her ship and waits for me to follow. I stand for a moment thinking about everything that is about to be lost and I can't help in any way. All the friends I have made along the way, all the brave marines that will die for nothing. I walk up into the bowels of the ship and look around at the inside. The ship has a table, probably for maps or medical needs, along the walls are weapons and cargo storage. I walk up and walk through a open door and see four beds and further up is a cockpit. I walk to the cockpit and squeeze into the narrow seats. Just as a sit down the hatch closes and the engines flare to life. our ship begins the slow climb to the nothingness of space. I peer out the window at the landscape and say goodbye to the land I once called home. I look over at Zandra and she is busy flying the spaceship to notice I am staring at her.

"Why are they going to blow the planet up, is it because of the Zerg?"

"Is that what you call them, okay I'll call them that too, the Protoss follow the wretched Zerg around from planet to planet eradicating them in hopes of preserving the planet and its inhabitants, after the Protoss encountered your race the found that if left alone you could pose a serious threat to them so they decided it was best to just kill the planet and make sure your race will never be able to fight them."

"So they are scared of humans?"

"They are scared of your potential." With that said a long silence occurs and no one speaks until we reach outer space, once outside the boundary of the Protoss fleet we drift along on a route away from Earth. As we drift a beeping sound begins to drone out of the center console.

"What is wrong?" I look at her wondering if the beeping is good or bad.

"We are out of fuel, we need to refuel, the only way to do that is at the refuel station set up on your only moon. The refuel station is guarded by my most trusted warriors, we set it up at a base of yours on the moon, there are humans there but we locked them up because we didn't want to have to worry about them. This could give you a chance to save your race."

"Then it is off to the moon." She flicks some switches and we speed off to the moon.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Ramifications

**Chapter 5: Ramifications**

As the spaceship barreled through space toward the moon I could only think about how all my friends will soon be turned into ash and dust and all I can do about it is to run from it. I notice the stillness that hung in the air inside the cockpit, Zandra knows that I cannot help my friends and she will probably try to help me in my journey in saving mankind.

I look out the front cockpit window and see the outline of the moon. During the times of peace on Earth, America started the moon projects and established a small habitable station on the moon. Scientists up there studied the way of life on the moon and conducted many projects. When the many countries of Asia united and declared war on the rest of the world, America feared that Asia would launch a space front and start the first ever galactic battles. Asia never went to space, they barely left the comfort of their own land, but needless to say, America prepared for the worst and set up a military complex on the moon capable of firing anti-spacecraft missiles at oncoming enemies. When the wars in Asia ended the military complex continued to thrive and was always prepared to one day battle in space. When the aliens arrived they must have quickly swarmed the relatively small base and easily captured it.

The moon begins to become larger as we near and I swallow hard at the sight of three of the monstrous craft of the Protoss.

"This is not good, this means my comrades are either battling them right now or have already succumbed to the mighty force that those carriers have dished out." Zandra's mental voice feels dry as it leaves my head and she looks like she is about to cry and then she stops herself and cracks her neck to calm herself.

"You called those things carriers, do you have names for the other Protoss that are unloaded from the carriers?"

"The bipedal warriors that you fought are the basic warrior caste of the Protoss, they are called Zealots and carry two psionic blades warped by their minds."

"You guys do a lot with your minds."

"The warriors that fall in combat and can no longer fight are put into a mobile unit with a protective shell and fire a photon. They are called Dragoons."

"I have never seen one of those before. What are the big caterpillar things called."

"I do not know what a caterpillar is but we have mobile artillery units that fire a scarab out of them, they are quite big and can cause mass destruction if left unattended to. They are called Reavers."

"Thanks for the names, now when we fight them and you tell me that four Zealots are behind me I know what to look for."

"Silence human we have arrived." Our spacecraft drifts over the moon base. To the public's knowledge the base was small but up close the complex looks huge, almost double of the Jacobs Installation that I was at earlier. We set the craft down on a vacant landing pad and Zandra shuts the engines off and opens the hatch and rolls the ramp down.

"Human you go and search for anything you deem useful, when I was here earlier we tied all the humans stationed here in the place where all your provisions were kept. I must go see if any of my comrades survived and refuel the spaceship. We shall meet back here in three cycles."

"What is a cycle?"

"Oh I forgot your just human, hmm lets see human time, carry the two, add four, come back here in two hours."

"Gotcha, hope you know your human time cause two hours is a decent amount of time." I jog off to the direction of the large bay door of the complex. Zandra walks off in the other direction. I wonder if they need air to breathe, then to think about it they don't got a mouth or any nostrils. I walk up to the door and squeeze my fingers into the gap where the two slabs join in the middle. My muscles flex and the two giant slabs separate about a foot. I then push on one side to widen the gap so I can fit my hulking mass through. I then push the slabs back together and move onto the next door. The complex must maintain an airtight atmosphere to support human life, I doubt the Protoss have been kind enough to keep it airtight. I pull the slabs open and air rushes around me. I guess this portion of the complex has been untouched.

As I get a first glimpse of the complex the distinct barrel of a gun is pointed in my face. I turn my outside speakers on.

"Hey don't shoot I am a human, I come in peace." I didn't really know what to say, when you got a gun pointed at you, a person doesn't really have time to make a complete thought.

"God buddy, you gave me one helluva scare." He pulls me into the complex and orders two other men to shut the slabs.

"Where have you come from, I've never seen you around before. Do you have new about what the hell is happening out there. We lost communication with Earth yesterday and then we lost the entire right side of the complex to a failed airlock, then we saw some spooky aliens walking around on the monitors."

"You got cameras that can look at the breached airlock?" I look into their faces, they are all covered by the visors of their battle suits.

"Yeah and the scariest thing is that some aliens are invading and we can't tell Earth." After he finishes speaking I tell them the entire story from start to finish and leave out the part of the Earth exploding, I didn't want to kill their hopes of getting home.

"So some of the aliens are called Protoss and some are called Zerg. I haven't seen any of the Zerg ones you described, only the Protoss ones. They haven't managed to reach this side and if they breach the airlock all the personnel here has battle suits on with enough oxygen on reserve to last them form a couple hours." The marine in charge is a second class sergeant. His name was Bill something. I didn't really care about names because I knew that most of these men would probably die is they stayed here, and that's what most of them wanted to do.

"Where is the Armory at this base?"

"Well sir that is the only problem we have had. The Armory is in the breached section, we only managed to get these guns recently. We found them in an emergency cache in the medical wing. We have enough rifles for all twenty personnel here, all other people where in the other wing at the time. This half of the complex is used for sleeping quarters and we were the only ones sleeping when the breach occurred. We have plenty of rifles just not enough ammo. Everyone here is a trained marine and knows how to use a gun, all the scientists were sent home when the wars in Asia broke out."

"We have only one choice and that is to go to the Armory and then to go back to the ship I came on and leave this place because it won't stay this peaceful for long." Out of the twenty marines that were alive only eight said they would come with me. Bill was one of the eight and I put him in second command with me leading the movement to get more ammo and weapons. We walk through the safe zone, as I called it and came to a blast door that separates the safe zone from the danger zone. I take a map out and look over thee planned out path that would take us to the Armory. I borrowed the map from Bill and also took a gun from one of the marines who stayed behind. I put the map away and gave the signal from the marines to quickly open the door form the rest to move through, then we would shut it on the other side, we wanted to keep the atmosphere as long as possible.

On the other side of the blast door we slowly begin the march to the Armory. We reach the first intersection and need to make a right turn to continue our direct course to the Armory. I come around the corner first and come face to face with about 4 Zealots. I drop to one knee and level my battle rifle and let off a volley of rounds that hit a Zealot and push him into his fellow comrades. The remaining Zealots who are no more than ten meters away push aside their dead comrade and charge. Five of the eight marines from a line behind me and fire on the oncoming charge. Within seconds all three of the remaining zealots fall. We just lost our surprise. We must now move with haste to the Armory and try to avoid all further battles. We walk down the next corridor and round yet another corner. We continue our march and up head we see a group of Protoss round a corner probably making haste to the sounds of battle. I count ten Zealots that are tightly grouped together in rows of two. I order four men to drop to a knee and the other four to stand behind them. The bottom row fires a volley first and the front two hit the ground causing confusion as the next two in line almost trip over their dead comrades. At that sight the top row fires and another two fall. The remaining six finally get a clue and spread out to avoid falling. I order to fire at will and the eight marines take the six zealots out before the enemy could reach us.

We reload and continue our march to the Armory. We are uncontested the rest of the way to the Armory. Some of the men think that the Protoss are trailing them and are going to corner them at some time. I think they are just paranoid as they open the door to the Armory. The men walk in and take duffel bags off the wall. They start to load ammo and weapons into the bags and I put one marine on watch outside to make sure we aren't cornered. I walk to the back of the Armory and grab a cart that we can use to push any heavy ordinance and weaponry back to the ship. We loaded heavy machine guns onto the cart along with a rocket launcher and a couple arm-mounted flamethrowers. We are ready to move when I look out to the marine I put on watch. He has disappeared and I nowhere to be found. I look out the door and see his body twenty meters away being dragged by a Zealot I raise my gun and before I fire I hear footsteps behind me. I turn to find around 50 Zealots charging not twenty meters away.

"Get out hear fools, we got company!" My voice is drowned out be the rattle of my gun as it begins to mow down Zealots one by one. Five marines pour out of the Armory all equipped with brand new weapons. Some have two rifles and switch out when one gets over heated. Some have guns strapped to all places on their armor. I wonder where the other two marines are but can't worry about that now. We reload our weapons in succession and continue to lay down suppressing fire. Our efforts aren't enough and the Zealots begin to pour out of everywhere. I turn around and see twenty more coming from our back. The two remaining marines come out with a big gun. The set it on the ground and load a big box of rounds in it from a backpack strapped on one marine's back. The gun's eight barrels begin to spin and the gun unleashes hundreds of rounds at the oncoming mass of Zealots. Within seconds thirty Zealots fall to the might of the mini-gun. The other marine pulls out a rocket launcher and fires a rocket at the group of men behind us and a fireball washes over half their numbers. With the mini-gun spent and the rocket launch empty the Zealots continue to advance. Their initial numbers were around 150, they have been downsized to about fifty, but that is enough to kill even the bravest marines. We fall back into the depths of the Armory and grab guns off the racks and load them with spare ammo. The Zealots pour in, but must enter single file because of the width of the door. Zealot after Zealot fall, not a single one can step within five feet of the room. Then the wall around the door explodes and debris flies and sprays the defenders within. At that moment a massive mechanized unit walks in, I now know what a Dragoon looks like. The mammoth of a thing walks around on 4 legs and the legs are attached to a body that sits about four feet off the ground. The marines open up on the behemoth and the Dragoon launches what Zandra called a photon. A photon is more like a giant ball of energy that flies at a target and incinerates whatever it touches. When it hits the intended target the ball of energy erupts lashing out to nearby audiences, who watch in awe as a fellow marine is vaporized within seconds. The marines all aim at the four legs that support the mobile cannon. The Dragoon fall to the ground and blue blood or whatever it was fills the ground. Even though the threat of the Dragoon is gone, there are still many Zealots left and they are even angrier than before. The barrage of fire coming from the six marines isn't enough to stop the flow of Zealots, now that there is a hole in the wall more than one Zealot can come in at a time. The two closest marines to the hole are instantly sliced to death. We fall back into the Armor more and I pick a rocket off a rack, prime it, and throw it at the oncoming Zealots. The rocket explodes and eight more Zealots fall. There are still four Zealots left and in this close of a range they can cause serious damage. Bill and his three marines try to push the Zealots back with suppressing fire. The Zealots lash out and manages to stab one of the marines before falling. The marine's battle suit has been compromised and he slowly dies from having no atmosphere to breathe. With only three men and myself we must grab what we can and run. We get out the door of the Armory and are instantly bombarded by twelve Zealots. They advance and we drop the duffle bags and open up. By the time they reach us their numbers have been cut down to four. The four Zealots slash at us with their psionic blades and two of the Zealots make contact with the two of the marines. I turn to the last Zealot and stick my gun barrel right in his face and pull the trigger. His face explodes and the threat in neutralized. Bill and I make our way to the blast door to the safe zone. We reach the blast door with no problems and find it blown apart. We walk through and move slowly down the hallway to the main quarters where the other marines were stationed. We get there and find many dead bodies, most of them are Zealots, but we get a final count of twelve marines. We conclude they must have ran out of ammo because their guns have been emptied and most were cut in half by the blades of the enemy. Bill walks over to a pile of Zealots and kicks them to make sure they are dead. The pile explodes from within and a Zealot springs up and slashes Bill to death. I scream and charge the Zealot. The Zealot turns to face me and I tackle him to the ground. My fists go wild and I pummel the Zealot into the ground. The Zealot passes out from the constant punches that I issue him. I stand up over the Zealot's body, I pull my sidearm out and put a round in the Zealot's head to ensure his death.

I take all the ammo I can carry and exit the complex and head back to the ship. I make it there in time to see Zandra battling a couple Zealots. I rush over to aid her but by the time I reach her she has slashed the puny warriors to death. She walks up to me and grabs the gear off my back.

"What took so long?" her telepathic message sounds somewhat different than it did before.

"I found some survivors, but they all died when we went on a mission to the Armory. I brought weapons to use if we need them, how did you do?"

"All of my fellow warriors were already dead when we arrived. As for our ship, it has be refueled and we are ready to go, the only thing is where shall we travel to. Once Earth explodes we will have nowhere to help your people." When her mental note is finished another beeping sound resonates from the ship. Zandra runs up the ramp followed by me. I drop the equipment on the ground and walk to the cockpit. By the time I sit down she has already read the message.

"There are two messages, one bad for you, the other bad for me. They will commence the destruction of Earth in two minutes." She finishes her thoughts and I run down the ramp and look out at the blue ball in the sky. Zandra follows me down as the blue ball turns into a scorched red ball and then explodes. The sight makes my stomach turn upside down and I fall to my knees crying.

"Your not the only one to hurt inside. My home planet of Aiur, the home planet for all Protoss is under attack from the alien race you call Zerg. Even though we were thrown out, every Protoss has a strong desire of nationalism, we take pride in our planet. I must now travel to Aiur and help out my people, if you wish to come you may. You don't have mush left here to save. You can be of best help with me, and maybe you will survive longer."

"I will come with you, I will assist you in anyway I can. I don't want you to see your planet explode like I have seen mine." Zandra helps me up and we walk into the ship. She fires the space craft up and we blast off into the abyss.

**End of Chapter 5**

_**End of Part 1**_

Starcraft and all of its contents are copyrighted be Blizzard Arts. I do not own Blizzard or Starcraft. All races, names, and units in this story are property of Blizzard.


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